Inside the Solace of a Promise
by skylights22
Summary: She would've waited for him in the human world, would've grown and formed her own family but she would never have forgotten. However, the changes sparked in her have her drifting from the remainder of her humanity and she once more enters the demon world.
1. a beginning

Chihiro sat on the train, watching the streetlamps pass by the station. Light flashed through the compartment, illuminating her face and the metal surroundings before being plunged once more into indistinction. At fifteen, Chihiro stared at the reflection that met her, not truly seeing anything but press of glass and roadside and the swirling thoughts splayed inbetween.

She superimposed an ocean over the routine of tar and city lights, changing the depth of night into a clear blue sky. Shadows drifted through the station, waiting silently for their own destination to arrive while the demon on her right hummed and the mouse and fly on her left jumped up and down in excitement. Her breath hit the window, smearing the design of her recollections with greasy fingerprints.

Her face was blank. The light brown of her eyes met nothing tangible in the solitude of her memories. She had never run away before. She wasn't sure where she was going or really where she had come from. She hadn't been planning to run away when she got up this morning or when she sat by the river over the concrete bridge, holding her breath like she always did whenever she crossed it to go to school.

She had left school with every intention of returning home, of helping her mother fix dinner and listening to her father talk about work while the television played in the living room. She had boarded the train and when the station that led her home arrived she had remained seated. She had stared at the window as the doors closed and when she felt the train begin to accelerate she breathed out a heavy sigh of recognition. Just like that, she knew she would not be coming home.

The train was mostly empty and no one paid attention to the young girl sitting on the bench, her hands in her lap and an empty and thoughtful expression on her growing face. The train let out a whistle and entered a tunnel. The room went entirely dark, and Chihiro held her breath. The tracks crackled, and the whoosh of air fled by the window. The trolley jumped and jolted. There was nothing special to tell Chihiro she had left the human world other than the conspicuous lack of the few other passengers that had adorned the train.

She remained seated as the countryside blurred and the clearness of the sky cast a soft blue glow over the compartment. The trolley jumped again, and Chihiro smiled.

Just like that. She was home.

---

_There are many ways to enter the Spirit world. A connection must be wrought and the foundation laid with the enchantments in mortar and blood. The hands that crafted it must do so with clear intention._

_There are bad portals, and there are good portals. If a connection was made with foul intentions then the portal is stained and no fortune will come to the passengers of the spiritual realm. _

_All passengers must pay a toll. If no toll is paid then the passenger is forfeit to the ferryman or the first spirit to capture the transgressor. Illegal immigration is punishable by forced servitude for however long the contract stipulates in whatever manner the contractor agrees upon. _

_If no contract can be agreed upon then the transgressor will be forcefully ejected from the spiritual world. _

_To remain in the spirit realm the passenger must have purpose. Without purpose, the passenger will be sent to the lost world where they will reside until the end of the world. _

_Every immigrant to the spiritual world must work. Payment will be stipulated in the contract. The passenger has thirty days to retain work or they will be forcefully ejected._

As so stated in the section C27 of the Book of Ruin

---

Chihiro had obeyed Kohaku, and while leaving the spiritual world, she had not looked back. While her parents remember nothing of their time as pigs or their daughter's sacrifice and struggle, Chihiro had felt the magic settle over her.

The demon food had left her system, but she still felt the pull of the spirit world. She had begun to notice things that had once been unsaid. The woman pulling the flowers from her cart had wolf eyes and two tails trailing under skirt. The flowers and mushrooms spoke. She caught the faint image of a dragon when the wind brushed by her cheek. The man that slithered beneath the bridge on Wednesdays had horns and a tongue like a frog.

Scents misted up randomly in odd places. Emotions were caught in the wood of her desk at school and inside the walls of her house. Shadows clung to people on their backs, whispering in their ears. They turned to glare at her and she hurriedly busied herself with whatever task was at hand, feeling the cold sweep of malice fill the air. The scent was so unbearable she fled from the room to vomit.

The food was weak. The air was stale. She couldn't seem to get anything clean anymore. The water tasted impure. Her parents sometimes forgot she existed. People were beginning to not see her. Slowly, she felt herself slipping from this world. Where once she might have been scared, there was nothing but calm interest, a faint type of indifferent acceptance.

She ate less, and wondered if she stopped eating all together if she would disappear. The years she had spent in the human world felt more and more like closure as the days pressed on. She felt like she was saying goodbye to her humanity, which was silly because you couldn't change the nature of a thing. She would always be human, but this world was no longer meant for her.

Magic always changed a person. Chihiro had grown up when she had been in the spiritual world with an unrelenting pace that was extraordinary and a bit scary. The eyes that stared back at her classmates and parents were not the eyes of a child or an insecure teenager. She smiled like a child with an outstanding politeness that impressed her teachers and her parents' dinner party guests. Her body still carried the awkwardness of youth and she still had the stubbornness and resilience of her age.

But her eyes were old with experience and love. What children know of true love? Children were selfish by nature, unable to understand the unity and sacrifice of love when they themselves were just trying to find out who they were. It is impossible to love somebody without knowing yourself first. Children naturally assumed that everything was owed them. They were unable to comprehend surrender and labor.

Chihiro's eyes were disconcerting in their understanding. Children burned with affection. They're eyes lit up with the exuberance of their connection to the world around them and because of that, they were able to see and hear much more than a normal adult. Chihiro held a quiet loving, quietly burning from a deep well unlike the quick fire of youth. It was there for anyone to see it.

Chihiro was on the cusp between child and adult when she had been taken into the spirit world. Because of this, the magic had infused itself more neatly into her subconscious. Unlike her parents, Chihiro still held faith in magic and it made her more receptive. Now half human and half magic, she splayed the line between the realms able to choose between.

Accept magic and all the dangers that implied or deny it and never have to worry about the hidden shadows that lurked on the edge of her understanding again.

In the end, it had been her love that had decided her. She had never forgotten the band that wound round her hair, and she had never forgotten Kohaku or the promise he had made her. As she rode the train that traversed the divisions of their lands, Chihiro did so without regret or distraction and with pure intentions. She knew nothing about demon law or where she was heading, only that it was right.

When the train stopped, she descended to the station. The countryside spread out before her. She had no idea where she was but the air was finally clean. She breathed in. This was a different side of the demon world without land markers. As the train rolled on, Chihiro felt the wind of its departure rustle the tail of her hair. She turned, tucking the stray locks behind her hair.

Between the cars, she could make out the rough description of a cart. When the train finally ended, she caught sight of a tall ticket booth stretched beside a bench and a light post. She crossed the tracks and approached.

She rose on her tiptoes to see over the counter. "Excuse me," she called beseechingly into the cramped space.

She could hear a muffled snore and stepped back obligingly. After a few moments the sounds of scuffling revealed a lean man. His forehead dripped over his brow, hiding his eyes. A small pair of spectacles hung on his drooping nose, which resembled a long rat's. The whiskers scratched to either side of his wrinkled face. A nightcap covered his head and Chihiro could see the long neck of his long johns stretch over his humped back.

His long fingers gripped over the counter as he peered down at her through his foreskin and glasses. The skin of his hands was too large for his bones and drooping over his fingers like oversized clothes. The tips were deflated and sagged from his four-fingered grip. His nose rose up and sniffed her, his whiskers tickling her face.

Chihiro remained still and silent, unnerved by his strange appearance. The rat-man gave her one last sniff and pulled back.

"Human," he announced and brought out an assortment of papers, shuffling through the folds.

Chihiro watched him, not entirely sure if this spirit was good or bad but having nowhere else to go. He selected at few pages and pulled them out, reviewing the unfamiliar kanji.

He held out his withered, drooping hand without looking up. "Toll."

Chihiro shook her head. "I don't have any."

He looked up. "No toll. No admittance."

"How do I get a toll?" she asked politely.

He shrugged. "That's for you to decide. No toll. No admittance."

Chihiro sighed, looking around her at the comfortable but barren landscape. "Excuse me, sir. But can you still me where I am?"

"Between."

She frowned. "Between what?"

His nose twitched. "Everything."

She thanked him and sat on the bench. It was nice here, she decided. The wind moved through the lush grass ad she watched it traverse the hills as the gleam of tall green stalks welcomed it. She twisted her ankles, placing a hand on either side of her. She had no belongings, no money, and no food, but she couldn't feel disheartened, not in this place.

The snores of the ferryman reached her. The tracks reached on forever. The gravel was fresh and unhindered by weeds. Even the wooden beams seemed new and the rail was polished and shone. She didn't even know what the toll was. For all she knew it could be a lock of hair.

She closed her eyes. She couldn't regret her decision to come here or her lack of decision to go back. She let her thoughts drift. She found herself thinking about the homework she had turned in this morning and what grade she had made. She wondered if the teacher would even notice she had a student absent. Even if she was seated on a chart, she somehow didn't think any of the people she had met would notice if she was gone or even if she had been there at all.

But that's what happened when you give up a world to gain another. She wondered if Noh Face was happy working with Granny or if Ubaba had changed the bathhouse. She thought about Kohaku. The river spirit had gotten his name back and he had stayed to clear up his contract. She didn't really know how such things worked but she hoped he was happy. She wondered if Len had ever gotten those train tickets she wanted.

Never once did she question if she would see them again. Kohaku had promised.

She slept through the first night on the bench, removing her shoes to lie across it. The light post cast a shallow and gentle light over her, warding against the dark. She pillowed her head on her arms and was soon breathing easily through her mouth. The night was slightly chill but not enough so that she craved a blanket. It was one of the soundest sleeps she had had in years.

She awoke rubbing sleep from her eyes and stretching out her limbs. The rat-man was leaning on the counter, surveying the hills silently. Chihiro wondered if he ever got lonely but was too polite to ask. The day was exactly the same as the one before it and Chihiro was a bit relieved that she did not have to partake of food here or else disappear.

She played a quiet waiting game, contentedly thinking about nothing in particular. When a carriage appeared through the air, she watched it descended with a soft curiosity. The car was carried by lizards. They scurried across the ground when they landed, their short legs quick and lithe. The carriage itself was opulent and richly adorned with gold and rubies. Chihiro stared from her bench.

The rat-man crawled out from behind the booth. Chihiro was startled to realize he had a lame foot. His long johns were a dirty color and a small patch was stitched into the side. He approached the carriage as a frog footman jumped down from the driver' seat and opened the door.

The man that stepped out was squat like his entire body had been squashed down. His long nose protruded from his face and touched his chin. He was adorned in European robes with a fur trim. Several rings overcrowded his fingers. He surveyed his surrounded with a contemptuous air with beady red eyes. No whites shone through and only a pinprick of light from the sun provided reprieve to the claret hue.

The rat-man bowed awkwardly with his leg. The man looked him over before grunting approvingly and extending his hand. The rat-man offered him the procured papers. The man filed through them then stopped.

"A human?" he exclaimed in a gritty voice. He looked at the rat-man, who was a good foot taller than him. "What was its toll?"

As answer the rat-man looked over towards Chihiro, who sat straighter now that their attention had turned. The man looked like some odd version of a toadstool in his purple hat and fur. He neared her with an arrogant sniff, covering his nose with a dainty cloth.

"You do not have a toll?" he asked her.

Chihiro shook her head. "Sir, does this station take you to the spirit realm?"

He seemed a bit surprised and his blood eyes widened. "Yes, but a toll must be enacted as payment to cross over."

"What would be required of me if I wished to cross over?"

He smiled and it split his face clean in half. His cheeks wrinkled at the corners of his lips, which spread wide over horse-like blocky teeth.

"Many things could be required," he answered dubiously. "What would give?"

"I don't have anything with me," Chihiro explained. "I wasn't expecting to come here."

"But you have intent," he said. "Otherwise you would never have made it this far."

"I no longer belong in the human world," she told him.

He smiled again. Chihiro felt like her head could easily fit into his mouth.

"So you wish to enter our world."

She nodded. "I don't have any money or any possessions."

His gaze turned cynical as he thought. "Then you do not have anything I desire."

"I can work," she offered, remembering Ubaba's oath to never let her refuse anyone who asked her work.

"But what good would you be? You could hardly survive the work in the mines. You're even too scrawny to eat," he grinned.

Chihiro shivered but was not deterred. "I worked in Ubaba's bathhouse."

"Ubaba, you say," he remarked thoughtfully. "Ubaba's a softie. I can see her hiring someone like you. You are wasting my time," he said and started to walk away.

Chihiro really didn't know what else she could do. She didn't have any important talents to offer. Last time Kohaku, Len, and the Komaji had helped her. Now there was no one that stood between her and desperation. She watched as the carriage took back to the sky and fought not to cry. The rat-man sent her a consoling stare before climbing back into his booth.

She lied across the bench and tried not to feel useless and lonely. It was true that she was only a weak human. Even though she no longer fit into the human world, this was not her world either, but she had nowhere else to go. She had nowhere else she wanted to go. She cried into the wood of the bench while the ferryman looked on sadly.


	2. Cobbler Toki

A week later the carriage returned. Chihiro was still at the bench, waiting. The squashed man got out of his carriage and approached her.

"Can you be loyal and listen only to me?"

"Yes, sir," she replied honestly.

"Good." He turned away. "Get in."

Chihiro obeyed. With a last wave to the rat-man, she climbed into the carriage behind her new master and was off.

---

Six years, one month, and twenty-six days later:

Chihiro had grown into a woman. She was not the most beautiful human that had grace Cobbler Toki's halls nor the most intelligent or talented, but Chihiro had matured into a strong and capable hand. Her resilience and kindness had gained the eyes of many of the other servants.

No one at first could see why the greedy and straightforward master of the Hall had invited the young girl onto his staff, but Chihiro had served with an honest loyalty that no demon could possess. Most spirits were obsessed with power to a greater capacity than men. They reveled in riches and gambles and seedy deals. Everything they did was for profit.

Chihiro worked without the stain of greed to color her efforts. She counted the Cobbler's coins honestly, and she soon became his favorite secretary. She smiled at everyone she met with such steadfast sincerity. Many of the workers who had grumbled at the appearance of a lowly human among their ranks had taken an easy liking to the girl.

The Cobbler always took her on his many errands and she eventually became acquainted with the demon world in a way that she had been lacking before. While unable to cast spells and curses she could at least recognize them and avoid the more obvious tricks that ran her way.

She eventually grew into her face as well. While still considered plain, the softness and strength of her eyes had grown into its own beauty. Her body was well proportioned, and scurrying from place to place had given her quick and agile legs. Though she was still prone to clumsiness, it wasn't embarrassingly so.

The eagerness to fulfill her duty pleased the Cobbler. He gave her a lavish room that was quickly exchanged for something more acceptably modest. He had presented her with extravagant robes, which had been set aside in favor of a crème and blue kimono without design. She made friends easily and even the crude ravens that worked for him had given the girl a rueful type of respect though they would never admit to it. The dog demons that guarded his vaults had taken an immense liking to her, as had the fire demon that resided in his fireplace.

And Chihiro was completely oblivious to the infatuation of his stern staff. Indeed, Chihiro easily charmed anyone she approached. He wondered why Ubaba had ever let her go.

Chihiro's contract had no time limit. He had taken advantage of the girl's lack of knowledge about the spiritual plane and not made any restrictions to his power over her. Though she surely knew now, she had never questioned him about it and she remained to serve him loyally as he had asked. He had no intentions of ever letting her leave.

Time passed differently in the demon world and as long as she remained here she would not age exponentially. He suspected that after a few more years of eating their food she would stop aging all together. Even though she was now almost twenty, she still looked sixteen.

Her brown hair had gotten longer and she taken to clasping the strands together at mid waist with the band her friends had made for her. She was a tiny woman, slightly androgynous but with long lashes and a long neck. The kimono was loose on her and exaggerated her lack of form. She rarely wore shoes anymore and though she still kept her school uniform in the back of her closet she had not gotten it out in years or even looked at it. She hardly smelled of human anymore, though her appearance clearly stated it.

Toki was possessive of her much like he was possessive of all his valuables. She had limited interaction with the outside world without his presence and was constantly at his side. She still talked as freely as she had when she had first arrived and showed none of the agitation of a caged creature. Every once in a while though, she could be seen staring through the windows of the temple with a blank expression on her face as if she was deep in thought and seeing something that was not there.

Cobbler Toki was always quick to catch her though when these instances surfaced, and Chihiro was as polite as ever at the interruption, eager to be of service. The entire temple was protective of their charge. It was quite a sight to see so many demons worked up over such an inconsequential human.

Surely, she had stolen their hearts.

---

Chihiro walked into Toki's study, closing the doors behind her silently. She bowed politely and rose with a soft inquiry as to why she had been called in. Toki was sitting behind his desk, marking down deposits from the tolls in a small leather ledger. Chihiro waited as he finished, giving a soft smile to the demon in the fireplace.

Miro winked at her from beneath the hearth as he munched happily on a log. Toki set the pen down. He flopped down from his seat. The table, which had been squatting, came up to his chin and wriggled out of his way.

"I need to visit the Eastern lands for a good month and I need your services," he said in the same croaky voice that had bid her his servant all those years ago.

Chihiro nodded. "Of course, Toki-sama."

"We will be leaving on the morrow," he announced.

"Yes, my lord. Thank you," she said, hearing the dismissal and bowing out as she exited.

Exiting the demon's study, she began the walk to the servants' quarters to begin packing. The wood creaked under the effort of the coming storm. The only light shone through the affection of the fires hanging from the ceiling. She walked on, barefoot and intense in her thoughts without a companion to divert her.

She didn't know how long Toki-sama wanted to keep her. While at first she had just been happy to be in the same world as her friends, she was now becoming restless. She held true to Kohaku's promise but breathing the same air and walking the same world as him was making her anxious. She missed them all so badly and the years had only seemed to increase her yearning. It could have been only yesterday when she had stumbled out of the shrine, listening to her parents argue over the condition of their abandoned car. She felt she hadn't changed at all.

She found herself thinking more and more often about Kohaku. She could clearly remember the silver of his eyes, the milky softness of his complexion, and the sage-tinged hue of his crisply cut hair. She could still feel the power of his scaled muscles rippling between her legs as they rode through the air. Everything about him was engrained in her memory.

Through she should have been contented to be in same realm as him, she found the company lacking. The inukami were sweet as were the other inhabitants of the temple but she still missed Len's loud comments and Kamaji's quiet, grandfatherly affection. They had been her first friends in this world and she still held them very dear to her heart.

She could be staying here forever. The terms of her contract were undefined. While that meant Toki-sama could keep her here to the limit of the time frame, it also meant it could be terminated whenever he willed it without repercussion, and she could be deported back to the human world. Or eaten.

A deal was a deal.

Demons could wheel and connive their way out of just about any situation, but they could not lie. The same way they could not enter a building without permission or shank on the agreement of a debt. Notoriously greedy, they could not steal from their own kind, hence the "all must work" rule. Lazy demons are foul demons. Every inhabitant of the spirit realm must have a purpose otherwise they are expelled.

Chihiro was glad Toki-sama had taken her in. Without him she never would have had the chance to exist in this realm. He had taught her the customs and laws of this place and she would always be grateful. She had spoken truth when he had asked if she could be loyal. She was treasurer and secretary for the old Cobbler, and never once had she deceived him and she asked and took no more than was her keep.

This would be the closest she had come to Ubaba's bathhouse. This job had given her insight into the workings of the demon world and how they ran their businesses. Ubaba would buy her, and the contract would be on her own terms this time. And if Kohaku wasn't there, she would just have to rent her trade to a traveling merchant and find him.

She had a purpose and she was going to see it through.

It had finally started to rain on the temple grounds and she saw the maids rush to get inside. The droplets slid down the stained glass. She walked down the halls to the sanctum. Rain flayed the ground through the open columns. The sun had hid behind thunderous clouds giving the room a somber glow.

Chihiro felt the wind pull back her hair bringing with it the fresh scent of earth and sky. The rain darkened the outside world, giving the greenery a nice even sheen. The ravens with their Koh masks slid together on top of the tiles, pecking and cursing. The rain did not seem to bother them as they shook out their oily pelts and danced back and forth over the roof. The masks frowned and jeered at her as they hopped, regarding her with the interest of watching a bug trying to crawl through a glass jar.

She regarded them with an open expression and went to stare at the rain. She rested a hand on the wood, leaning forward enough to feel the spray on her cheeks. A mist too fine to see drifted over the Japanese landscape, over the cloudy mountains that were the same in this land as the land that had birthed her. It carried the same scent of age and mysticism. The foliage shifted restless and slow around the mountain mansion. Chihiro let the cowl of her kimono shield her from the damp chill that froze her feet. Her eyes saw everything and nothing at all.

"Kohaku," she whispered to the birds and she shut her mud-clay eyes. "Be safe."


End file.
